Should I take a gap year due to limited ECs?

[LostPreLaw]

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Current second-semester sophomore. Original plan was to apply junior year summer.

GPA: 3.7, sGPA: 3.6
-Very heavy course-loads, will almost certainly go up in the remaining semesters

Cancer center volunteering: 300 hours
Microbiology research: 150 hours
EMT: 150 hours
Shadowing: 110 hours (100 radiation oncology, 10 neurosurgery)
Fraternity community service chair

EMT hours should be at around 800 or more by the time I apply (I just got hired). Research should also go up by a good amount, as I'm planning on doing an undergraduate thesis. Volunteering is steady at about 3-4 hours a week, though I'm looking into doing some non-clinical as well over this summer. I'm also trying to diversify the shadowing hours a fair bit. My father is a radiation oncologist, so it's definitely skewed towards that at the moment.

I'm essentially asking whether it would be a good idea to do a gap year with this sort of resume. I know these ECs are very cookie-cutter and the GPA's nothing to write home about. The only preferences I have for schools would be MD-only and not Caribbean. I'm more than happy applying to my state school.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Only you know what you have to do for complete your degree. Only you know your plans for the MCAT.

However, we also expect on to apply with their best possible profile. There is no stigma for taking gap years if you wind up presenting a profile showing your readiness and maturity to handle medical education. There is a perceived (but not always justified) stigma for being a reapplicant, likely because you have to address/disclose areas where you significantly improved from the previous application, and not many of us like to admit we didn't have an optimal application profile the last time.

In general we want to make sure medicine is a calling and a purpose for you. You must show how your experiences define this purpose, and the more hours you have, the more credible your statement.

 

[AJS59]

Your only weak point is non-clinical. I'd start there

 

[deleted1208015]

Take a gap year or two.

You’re competing with people who are strengthening their apps with gap years. You haven’t accounted for MCAT prep. GPA going up with course load going down isn’t a good look. Fraternity community service is looked at…… questionably.